Netflix shoots itself in the foot... aka no more free streaming

You probably should have read the past 11 pages, since most of the complaints were in regards to Netflix's handling of the situation, not the price change.

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Allow me to amend my statement. I did read the first couple of posts, which were complaining about the changes in the plans, before I posted. And if you had read my post instead of delivering snark, you would have noticed that I wasn't defending a price change (though I did touch on it), but was defending Netflix's business decision (which seemed to be where the thread was heading given this current page).

Maybe I didn't look up the same one you did, but the Firefox plugin I found acheived the hack by launching an IE tab inside Firefox and loading the NetFlix content in there. According to the plugin's page itself, it doesn't work on Macs.

Maybe I didn't look up the same one you did, but the Firefox plugin I found acheived the hack by launching an IE tab inside Firefox and loading the NetFlix content in there. According to the plugin's page itself, it doesn't work on Macs.

But if perks go away, your PR department should probably tell you to lead with something other than "Great news, everybody!"

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Bingo.

Netflix was a great value. It still is a great value. (My rate actually decreased.)

But whoever is in charge of their PR/Marketing needs to be fired. Good lord, what a completely amateurish fuckup. There was no reason at all that the customers needed to be riled up this way. Netflix needed to plot out a PR strategy months ago and start implementing it, so that, yes, it did really seem to be "Good news, everyone!"

As I've said previously, one cornerstone of that strategy is to make sure Netflix does not become lumped in the public mind with Hollywood studios, which are loathed as greedy, soulless scumbags. That image would be fatal to Netflix (and completely unfair, not that what's fair or unfair counts for spit in all this.)

Netflix needs to project an image of being a small, grass-roots, technology based company that is the complete antithesis of Hollywood douchebaggery. They need to be the guys who've got our back, against the Hollywood douchebags. (None of this needs to have any relationship to reality or what happens in meetings between Netflix and the Hollywood douchebags - keep in mind, I'm talking about a PR campaign.) At the very least, Netflix needs to control the message, which they have shown no signs of doing.

You probably should have read the past 11 pages, since most of the complaints were in regards to Netflix's handling of the situation, not the price change.

Click to expand...

Allow me to amend my statement. I did read the first couple of posts, which were complaining about the changes in the plans, before I posted. And if you had read my post instead of delivering snark, you would have noticed that I wasn't defending a price change (though I did touch on it), but was defending Netflix's business decision (which seemed to be where the thread was heading given this current page).

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Netflix's business decision is sound. Their PR/Marketing is asleep at the wheel. Netflix is delivering a good product at a fair price. Most PR departments are expected to defend companies that deliver crap at ass-rape prices, and make everyone believe that it's a good product at a fair price. Netflix's PR people have the easiest job on the planet, which makes it indefensible that they'd blow it so badly! Imagine being the PR people for BP.

lots of free movies over the Internet, even if the resolution is miserable,

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This phrase confuses me. Whenever I stream from Netflix, the resolution is always at least DVD quality.

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If you're streaming from an HD device the picture can look almost Blu Ray qualty! People dont understand the monumental undertaking that is Streaming. With this price increase, I bet we can expect more studios to sign, more bandwith added to the company, more importantly more titles of movies and TV shows to appear on the service. Where else can yo watch the entire 90's X-Men and Spider-man cartoons in perfect clear quality? Or 4 of the 5 Star Trek shows in their entirety again in disc quality streaming? Recently they just added Iron Man 2. and The Secretariat. The Fighter as well. So people who say there isnt any new movies to watch clearly doesnt check their website for new titles, just the Roku, or other device choices.

Psst. Just checked again: The 60's spider-man cartoons are available now! See It's gems like that that make Streaming worth every penny.

I only have poor-quality streaming when the original video isn't good quality (say it's only 4:3 SD resolution, as is the case for many older TV shows) or when my Internet connection is congested. But if I don't have other stuff downloading and it's a film or TV show that's HD-capable, the quality is superb.

Which is why I dumped the streaming part of Netflix. Studios are not going to let Netflix expand in this area, because they smell mooooney. The streaming options will always lag seriously behind their DVD library, and the deep library is a major reason why I bother with Netflix at all.

This decision is a result of our strategy to protect the premium nature of our brand by preserving the appropriate pricing and packaging of our exclusive and highly valuable content. With our current studio rights and growing original programming presence, the network is in an excellent position to evaluate new opportunities and expand its overall business.

Which is why I dumped the streaming part of Netflix. Studios are not going to let Netflix expand in this area, because they smell mooooney. The streaming options will always lag seriously behind their DVD library, and the deep library is a major reason why I bother with Netflix at all.

This decision is a result of our strategy to protect the premium nature of our brand by preserving the appropriate pricing and packaging of our exclusive and highly valuable content. With our current studio rights and growing original programming presence, the network is in an excellent position to evaluate new opportunities and expand its overall business.